Reading the World through Books for Young People: Asia and Oceania

By Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp

Hi, I'm Ruth, a literary translator and SCBWI member, and  I'm honored to be blogging with Lee Wind this month. Every September is World Kid Lit Month: an annual celebration of international literature for young people. So far this month, we’ve been on a whistle-stop tour of the Americas, Africa and Europe, with book tips from SCBWI members from eight regional chapters. Thank you everyone for getting involved and sharing your favorite international reads!

Today I’m going to attempt the impossible, and whisk you off on a tour of the rest of the world, starting in Oceania and sweeping up into Asia. Yes, it appears I’ve saved the most populous regions of the world until last. 

Our book recommendations from SCBWI members today come from Japan (the biggest hitter in terms of translation when you consider the vast publishing market for manga), but before that let’s explore a few other countries on the way…

Anne Coppell, children’s librarian in Aotearoa/New Zealand, has long been a supporter of World Kid Lit Month, and this year she’s even started a new blog sharing her favorite children's books from around the world but with a strong focus on Aotearoa and Pacific Islands. An absolute gem for anyone wanting to diversify their book collection for any of the many topics she’s explored this month: from Celebrations to Colonisation & history, from Dance, and Grandparents, to LGBTQIA+ and Self Esteem. Amazing. And if you haven’t come across his books before, do look up Gavin Bishop whose books are available in Māori/English bilingual editions from Gecko Press, among other publishers. As Anne says, “Bishop has been at the height of his powers for years, which means he is stratospherically / astronomically brilliant.”

Heading north to Papua New Guinea, Zillah Bethel, known for her generously spirited middle grade novel The Shark Caller, made a comeback last year with The Song Walker, taking us on a brief detour back south to the Australian Outback. But sorry Australia, we’ll have to come back another time, because Indonesia is calling, and two unmissable authors both published by The Emma Press, UK: When It Rains is a celebratory picture book from Rassi Narika, translated from Indonesian by Ikhda Ayuning Maharsi Degoul and Emma Dai’an Wright, and both volumes of the tales of Na Willa - Reda Gaudiamo's charming (fictionalised) memoir about a little girl growing up in Surabaya, Indonesia, translated by Kate Wakeling and Ikhda Ayuning Maharsi Degoul - are a sheer delight, as are the illustrations by Cecillia Hidayat.

From Vietnam, everyone must read and linger over the incredible tropical flora and fauna depicted in Jeet Zdung and Trang Nguyen’s Saving Sorya: Chang and the Sun Bear - one of two translations into English that won the historic 2023 Yoto Carnegie awards (for some reason, most likely to do with metadata and poor #namethetranslator action on the part of the publisher, Saving Sorya wasn’t recognized as a translation while The Blue Book of Nebo was. Anyway, both are incredible books and deserving winners!)

I can’t do justice in this short space to the many fabulous books being translated from China, Taiwan, Japan and Korean - the big hitters in terms of translations from Asia - other than to direct you to some great resources: the incredible Taiwanese Kid Lit series over at Global Literature in Libraries Initiative (they also ran an #IndiaKidLit series for World Kid Lit Month last year); the blog Chinese Books for Young Readers; recent reviews in Words Without Borders; and Ihatov - the blog of SCBWI Japan chapter. 

Much as I long to get sidetracked by my favorite translations from Kazakhstan (Batu and the Search for the Golden Cup, translated by Shelley Fairweather-Vega), Iran (everything from Tiny Owl Books, but especially the bursting-with-compassion There’s Room for Everyone and also the new Mama Shamsi at the Bazaar by Mojdeh Hassani, Samira Iravani and illustrated by Lebanese supestar Maya Fidawi), Israel (Bear and Fred by Iris Argaman and Avi Ofer, translated by Annette Appel), Jordan (everything by Taghreed Najjar), and Palestine (Sonia Nimr - take a weekend off and devour the Thunderbird trilogy, translated from Arabic by Marcia Lynx Qualey. You won’t regret it), I shall stop here, and hand you over to our fellow SCBWI members, Suzanne and Eori for their recommendations from Japan…

Japan

Temple Alley Summer by Sachiko Kashiwaba, translated from Japanese by Avery Udagawa

Restless Books, 2021

Recommended by Suzanne Kamata, SCBWI Japan

Suzanne says …

"There is much to delight fans of Ghibli films in this book, as well as those who have never encountered Japanese children's stories. I imagine it might be like experiencing C. S. Lewis for the first time. I love that it starts with a boy peeing out the window because he is afraid of ghosts, and then evolves into a story of friendship between a human and a supernatural being. There are many glimpses into everyday life in Japan, such as the inevitable summer school projects, but the book avoids pop culture references that might date the story.  It's an intriguing blend of mystery, ghost story, fairy tale, and fantasy, with quirky characters. It's at times sad, scary, funny, and sweet. I think it could become an international classic."

The Bear and the Wildcat by Kazumi Yumoto, translated from Japanese by Cathy Hirano

Gecko Press, 2011

Recommended by Eori Tokunaga, SCBWI Los Angeles, CA 

Eori says …

"The Bear and the Wildcat is a story about a bear who grieves the loss of his best friend and a friendly Wildcat who helps the bear process his feelings of moving on. I came across this book while working at the library and was immediately attracted to the illustrations. As someone who lives with depression, I genuinely appreciate how gently the author weaves empathy and compassion into the story. I would highly recommend this book alongside other socioemotional stories such as The Memory Box: A Book About Grief and A Last Goodbye."

***

You'll find the previous articles in this World Kid Lit Month series here:

• Reading the World through Books for Young People: the Americas

• Reading the World through Books for Young People: Europe

• Reading the World through Books for Young People: Africa

And for more recommendations of children’s and YA books from around the world, see the following websites:

• World Kid Lit

• Kids Read the World

• Outside In World

• Global Youth Lit

• Global Literature in Libraries Initiative (#WorldKidLit Wednesday book reviews)

***

Suzanne Kamata is an American permanent resident of Japan, and the author of the young adult novel Indigo Girl (GemmaMedia, 2019) and the middle grade novel Pop Flies, Robo-pets and Other Stories (One Elm Books, 2020), both set in Japan.

Eori Tokunaga is an author, illustrator, librarian, and zinester based in Los Angeles. Currently, she is working as an Assistant Editor for the SCBWI-Los Angeles Kite Tales blog and is putting together manuscripts/picture book dummies for submission. 

Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp is an Arabic teacher and a literary translator working from Arabic, Russian and German into English. She gives workshops in schools about reading the world and creative translation, and is managing director of World Kid Lit, the hosts of World Kid Lit Month.

Banned Books Week 2024 Resources and Book Love

Banned Books week in the USA is happening now (Sep 22-28, 2024) and there's so much you can do to get involved and help make sure that diverse books are available to the young readers who need them!

One great example is author Charlotte Sullivan Wild (Love, Violet - illustrated by Charlene Chua, FSG), who is creating Instagram slides for the week featuring queer picture books, on a theme each day. Here's Charlotte's first #QueerBookLove #RainbowBookLove post

Another cool initiative to check out is one I've created with Tasslyn Magnusson, WE ARE STRONGER THAN CENSORSHIP which aims to put the brakes on the runaway train of book banning by buying and donating two books for every one challenge or ban.

There are also a lot of great events this week celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of diverse books, including 25 panels* offered by EveryLibrary Live! Banned Books Week Fest and this Banned Books week event (both in-person and live-streamed) with Judy Blume.

PEN America is hosting live events in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Coral Gables, Florida, Austin and Dallas, Texas, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Farmington, Utah. SAGE is hosting a Banned Books Week panel*, and the American Library Association has a list of banned books week events here.

There are lots more suggestions for things you can do to fight book banning, including BE STRONG: Things You Can Do About Book Banning, the American Booksellers Association's Right to Read Handbook, and getting involved with Sep 28, 2024 Let Freedom Read Day.

Illustrate, Translate, and Write On,
Lee

*full disclosure: these include some online events where I am moderating or a panelist.

Reading the World through Books for Young People: the Americas

By Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp

This month, SCBWI and World Kid Lit have teamed up to mark World Kid Lit Month: an annual celebration of international literature for young people. September is the perfect time to read beyond your borders, and to explore children’s books from other countries and translated from other languages. 

It’s also Hispanic or Latin American Heritage Month from mid September to mid October, and today, we tour North, South and Central America, exploring some must-read translated and bilingual books for children and teens.

While there is much excellent writing in English by authors of Latin American heritage (celebrated by prizes such as the ALSC’s Pura Belpré Award, named after Pura Belpré, the first Latina librarian at the New York Public Library), today I want to focus on translated kid lit from across the Americas, and let a few inspirational translators be our guides.

Translation is a highly skilled and creative art, and as SCBWI Translation Coordinator Avery Udagawa Fischer explains, it’s important that the translator (and the language the book was translated from) is clearly named in a book’s copyright pages, in the metadata and ideally on the cover, too. The visibility of a book’s journey from one language to another can be a real boost for young people who speak another language at home: there’s a certain pride at seeing your language or identity represented in the books shared in the classroom or library.

Translator visibility also helps curious readers of any background find their next read as we follow the trail through translators’ backlists. 

As a translator myself I particularly love it when publishers - like Enchanted Lion - dedicate a whole page of their website to showcase their talented translators. The first translator I wanted to highlight is Sara Lissa Paulson. Her translation of the philosophical riddles and rhymes in the Book of Questions/Libro de las Preguntas by Chilean poet and Nobel Prize winner Pablo Neruda (illustrated by Paloma Valdivia) was published to much critical acclaim. And her recent translation of the Colombian middle grade novel Johnny, the Sea and Me by Melba Escobar, illustrated by Elizabeth Builes is an absolute delight: family breakdown, an unlikely friendship, and finding your inner strength, all amidst a Caribbean island setting fragrant with ex-pirate Johnny’s delicious cooking!

Another translator to follow around the region is David Bowles, a Mexican American author and translator whose Batchelder honor title winning The Sea-Ringed World: Sacred Stories of the Americas and bilingual YA novel The Immortal Boy (El Inmortal) are both available from Levine Querido. Daniel Hahn has many notable translations from Spanish, too, such as surreal Argentinian classic An Elephantasy, and this beautiful new release: The Invisible Story, a celebration of the inclusive power of storytelling and of Braille, by Jaime Gamboa & Wen Hsu Chen, first published in Guatemala. But he has also translated many gems from Portuguese, such as the work of Brazilian picture book artists Roger Mello and Fernando Vilela.

Continuing with Brazilian literature, two more translators could be our guides: Alison Entrekin brought José Mauro de Vasconcelos’s moving memoir My Sweet Orange Tree to English, while Lyn Miller-Bachmann's many translations include a picture book by Ruth Rocha. Following the Rocha trail then brings you to Tapioca Stories, US publisher of some of the brightest, quirkiest picture books from Brazil and Latin America (three recent releases, translations by Bruna Dantas Lobato, Kit Maude and Tal Goldfajn, were reviewed by SCBWI members this week in Words Without Borders). 

In terms of works for older readers, translator Larissa Helena’s work could be life-changing for teens: her three translations of Brazilian queer YA from Vitor Martins and Lucas Rocha are all worth a read (and won well-deserved recognition from the GLLI Translated YA Prize). And while you’re exploring LGBTQ lit from South America, don’t miss Chilean graphic novel memoir Gay Giant by Gabriel Ebensperger (find out more from the translators Kelley D. Salas and Mercedes Guhl). Another translator who is championing Latin American YA is Claire Storey, whose translations of creepy atmospheric YA thrillers from Argentina and Uruguay are not to be missed (The Darkness of Colors by Martín Blasco is out next month!)

You won’t get far exploring Latin American kid lit before you encounter Lawrence Schimel, who has recently translated picture books by Colombian author Irene Vasco and and Mexican artist Juan Palomino, Argentinian artist/author Isol, and Claudio Aguilera and Gabriela Lyon from Chile. His translation of Balam & Lluvia’s House by Guatemalan author and playwright Julio Serrano Echeverría, beautifully illustrated by Yolanda Mosquera, was shortlisted for the UK’s CLiPPA Poetry Award, and Carlos Pintado and Lawrence Schimel’s HaiCuba/HaiKuba, illustrated by Juan José Colsa, is a sparkling celebration of life in Cuba through haikus - Spanish and English - from the perspective of two children.

While on the topic of poetry, no collection for young people is complete without the work of Guatemalan Indigenous poet Humberto Ak’abal, who wrote first in his native K’iche’ (published in a Spanish/English bilingual edition by Groundwood Books, translated by Hugh Hazelton).

Heading north with this Canadian publisher, Groundwood Books publish Shelley Tanaka’s translations of Quebecois French authors; find out about a new favorite recommended by Jackie below. But first, having begun with Pura Belpré, let’s go back to her legacy, and her classic fables recommended by Connie.

Puerto Rico

The Tiger and the Rabbit and Other Tales 

by Pura Belpré, illustrated by Tomie de Paola

First published in 1946. The edition pictured was published in 1965 by J.B. Lippincott Company

Recommended by Connie Salmon (SCBWI New England)

Connie says: 

"These are stories that Pura would hear from her mother and grandmother, ever since she was a little girl growing up in Puerto Rico. My favorite is 'The Tiger and the Rabbit'. It’s about a tiger that lives among many different creatures in the woods. He especially wants to eat one of these creatures, the rabbit. But the rabbit is quick and clever and keeps outsmarting the tiger. The tiger never gets the chance. By the end of the story, the tiger and the rabbit become the best of friends and live together in peace.

"I first became aware of this story from another book, Stories from Puerto Rico by Robert L. Muckley and Adela Martinez-Santiago (copyright 1999). In this book, the story is called 'Friend Rabbit'. I wanted to see if there was any earlier book with this particular story. So, I went online and that’s when I saw Pura Belpre’s book, which was copyrighted in 1946. 

"I retold the story in my own version, The Rabbit and the Tiger, which was published in Skipping Stones Magazine in their March 2012 issue. My story is a little shorter and the rabbit is very much the hero. Being from Puerto Rico myself, I love to hear stories like this. I want to recommend this book for World Kid Lit Month because stories from this little corner of the world are very much underrepresented."

Canada

Taming Papa 

by Mylène Goupil, translated from French by Shelley Tanaka

English edition published in Canada by Groundwood Books, 2024

Published in French as Mélie quelque part au milieu by Québec Amérique, 2024

Recommended by Jackie Friedman Mighdoll (SCBWI San Francisco/South)

Jackie says:

"Mélie’s father, who she didn’t even know existed, is released from prison in an unnamed country and comes to live with her and her mother in their tiny apartment. How can Mélie connect with this stranger who doesn’t speak her language and won’t leave the apartment? As Mélie and her Papa learn to communicate, the warmth and fun build. The book is composed of straight-forward text and easy-to-read short chapters, but the underlying emotions are complex and poignant. It’s one of my favorite reads this year—and a great mentor text for character relationships."

***

Connie Salmon is a graduate of the Institute of Children’s Literature. She writes children’s fiction and nonfiction. She has been published in Boy’s Life and Skipping Stones Magazines. Connie leads a writer’s critique group that meets in Glastonbury, CT. She is a member of the New England SCBWI Region and also of the SCBWI Translations Group.

Jackie Friedman Mighdoll is a writer, educator, translator and entrepreneur. She is passionate about nurturing the next generation of global citizens. She currently serves on the board of World Kid Lit and on the steering committee of SCBWI’s Impact and Legacy Fund.

Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp is an Arabic teacher and a literary translator working from Arabic, Russian and German into English. She gives workshops in schools about reading the world and creative translation, and is managing director of World Kid Lit CIC, the hosts of World Kid Lit Month.